FTSE 100 Live: Goodwin shares soar, HSBC $1.1bn Madoff hit, Petrofac administration October 27, 2025 Good morning from the Morning Wire liveblog team. Rachel Reeves likes to insist that she will “never play fast and loose with the public finances.” It’s a phrase she deploys quite often, not least when it looks as if the bond market could do with a bit of reassurance, and it means that she won’t [...]
On this day: Big Bang hits the Square Mile October 27, 2025 On this day, 27 October 1986: Big Bang hits the Square Mile, and changes the City forever. Eliot Wilson takes us through it.
FTSE 100 Live: Natwest ups guidance, Retail sales rise October 24, 2025 Good morning from the Morning Wire liveblog team. As we get closer and closer to the Budget, businesses are becoming more and more vocal on their concerns over what could be in store. Yesterday it was the turn of London estate agent Foxton’s, which warned of softened demand as a result of Budget uncertainty. “Macroeconomic [...]
Scrap stamp duty on shares or risk FTSE 100 exodus, Peel Hunt warns October 24, 2025 The government must scrap stamp duty taxed on share trades or risk a growing number of firms quitting London for the New York Stock Exchange, investment bank Peel Hunt has warned. As much as £200m is already set to be lost from government tax receipts by the decision of Astrazeneca, the FTSE 100’s largest constituent, [...]
St James’s Place continues on its path to redemption October 23, 2025 The UK’s leading wealth manager, St James’s Place, has continued on with its work to move past its 2024 downfall, reporting a “strong quarter” as funds under management hit record highs. Gross inflows increased to £5.7bn, a 30 per cent jump from the £4.4bn recorded the previous year, while net inflows jumped 98 per cent, [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Lloyds takes profit beat, LSEG new investment October 23, 2025 Good morning from the Morning Wire liveblog team. Just how much is the motor finance redress scheme going to cost Britain’s biggest banks? Yesterday’s results from Barclays offered an insight – and it wasn’t pretty. The Canary Wharf-based bank almost quadrupled the provision it had set aside to cover motor finance claims, from under £100m [...]
UK dividends fall as companies battle challenging economic backdrop October 23, 2025 UK dividends tumbled in the third quarter of the financial year, as large companies made significant cuts to their shareholder payouts. According to the latest dividend monitor from financial services firm Computershare, London-listed firms paid their shareholders £24.6bn in the third quarter, through one off and regular payments. This was a 1.4 per cent year-on-year [...]
The ‘confidence gap’ is discouraging women from investing October 23, 2025 The UK financial services’ sectors fixation with the ‘confidence gap’ is actively turning women away from investing, a trading platform has warned. An analysis by Etoro of more than 80 UK reports on women investing by the financial services industry, found a repeated belief that the gender investment gap was caused by a lack of [...]
Reeves’ tax grab could ‘wipe £4bn out of the stock market’ October 22, 2025 One of the UK’s leading trading platforms has warned Chancellor Rachel Reeves that raising retail investor taxes could wipe billions off the stock market, undermining government attempts to boost domestic investing and strengthen the London market. According to research from trading platform IG, a two percentage point increase in both dividend and capital gains tax [...]
FTSE 100 Live: UK inflation holds at 3.8 per cent, Barclays share buyback October 22, 2025 Good morning from the Morning Wire liveblog team. The UK’s top banks are gearing up for a third-quarter reporting season where all eyes will be on the Labour government’s second Autumn Budget. Speculation of a bank tax hike has dominated chatter around the sector in recent months and elevated fears across the City. It also [...]